In the context of the increasingly developing music industry, protecting the rights of authors and artists has become more important than ever. One of the essential issues in this field is the copyright protection period for songs and musical works. The following VCD article will help you understand better.
1. What is a musical work?
According to Wikipedia, a musical work is considered to have its origin in a piece of music, the musical structure of a piece of music or the process of creating a new piece of music. A complete musical work usually includes three elements: melody, harmony and rhythm. The people who create musical pieces are called composers or music authors.
Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 6 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, the concept is defined as follows: A musical work specified in Point d, Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property is a work expressed in the form of musical notes in a musical score or other musical symbols regardless of whether it is performed or not.
Therefore, a musical work is a work expressed in the form of musical notes in a musical score or other musical symbols regardless of whether it is performed or not. And a musical work is one of the objects protected by copyright.
2. How long is the copyright protection period for songs and musical works?
Copyright is the right of an organization or individual to the work they have created or own. According to the provisions of Article 14 of the current Law on Intellectual Property, each work can be registered in many different forms. For example, the copyright of a song is protected as a musical work, while the performer of the song is protected as a related right.
For each different type, the protection period is also different. Therefore, the protection period for a specific musical work is as follows:
1. The personal rights stipulated in Clauses 1, 2 and 4, Article 19 of the Law on Intellectual Property are protected indefinitely.
2. The personal rights stipulated in Clause 3, Article 19 and the property rights stipulated in Article 20 of this Law have the following protection periods:
a) Cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works, and anonymous works have a protection period of seventy-five years from the date of first publication; for cinematographic works, photographic works, applied fine arts works that have not been published within twenty-five years from the date of their formation, the protection period is one hundred years from the date of their formation; For anonymous works, when information about the author appears, the term of protection is calculated according to the provisions of Point b of this Clause;
b) Works not falling under the category specified in Point a of this Clause have a term of protection for the entire life of the author and fifty years following the year of the author’s death; in the case of works with co-authors, the term of protection ends in the fiftieth year following the year of the death of the last co-author;
c) The term of protection specified in Point a and Point b of this Clause ends at 24:00 on December 31 of the year in which the term of copyright protection ends.”
Accordingly, the term of protection for musical works for moral rights under clauses 1, 2 and 4 of Article 19 is indefinite. Meanwhile, moral rights under clause 3 and property rights under Article 20 have a term of protection throughout the author’s life, extended for 50 years after the author’s death. For works with co-authors, the term of protection will end in the 50th year after the death of the last co-author.
For related rights, the term of protection is stipulated in Article 34 of the current Law on Intellectual Property as follows:
1. The rights of performers are protected for fifty years from the year following the year of fixation of the performance.
2. The rights of producers of phonograms and video recordings are protected for fifty years from the year following the year of publication or fifty years from the year following the year of fixation of the phonogram and video recording if the phonogram and video recording have not been published.
3. Rights of organizations The broadcast is protected for fifty years from the year following the year the broadcast is made.
4. The protection period specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article ends at 24:00 on December 31 of the year in which the protection period for related rights ends.”
3. Song copyright registration service
Vietnam Copyright Development Joint Stock Company specializes in providing copyright and related rights registration services. VCD commits to performing contractual obligations, including:
- Detailed consultation on the copyright registration process.
- Searching for information related to copyright.
- Classifying registration subjects in accordance with customer requirements.
- Representing customers in carrying out registration procedures.
- Guiding in preparing necessary documents.
- Drafting copyright and related rights registration dossiers.
- Submitting dossiers to the Copyright Office.
- Monitor the progress of reviewing documents and processing requests.
- Receive Certificates and send them to customers.
- Appeal related decisions.
- Advise and coordinate in resolving copyright disputes.
Above is the article “How long is the copyright protection period for songs and musical works?” that VCD sent to you. We hope this article is useful to you.
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